Sponsors Elude Women Golfers

Few Land Lucrative Endorsement Deals Typical Of Men's Tour

Teeing it up in Tuesday's practice round for the ADT Championship at Trump International, she is formidably decorated with the insignias of her corporate sponsors.

There's Callaway Golf on her visor and left shoulder, Mercedes-Benz on her right shirt pocket, Cutter & Buck on the left, and Kraft below the collar on her back. Plus, there's ADT on her golf bag. She also has deals with Oakley sunglasses and Microsoft.

But on the other side of the course, Hall of Famer Beth Daniel walks the fairways in a plain white hat.

And plain white shirt.

Daniel is one of the greatest ball strikers ever to play the LPGA Tour, and the winner of 33 events. Though she's 48, she remains a force, ranking 10th among Americans in earnings on tour this year. Still, she has no major corporate sponsorship, though she does have a long-standing bag deal with friends at the Greenbrier, a resort in West Virginia.

"I buy these hats myself," Daniel said. "I buy these shirts."

Before Meg Mallon won the U.S. Women's Open this summer, she walked into the merchandise tent and bought a hat with the championship's insignia on it because she had no major endorsement deals.

In its 55th year, the LPGA Tour is healthy with a solid business foundation and a promising future with international markets opening in Asia, Europe and Mexico. While its players understand why men on the PGA Tour make so much more prize money, they are frustrated that they still lag so far behind in endorsements.

Garcia made $8 million in endorsements and off-the-course income a year ago, according to Golf Digest. Sorenstam made $3.9 million as the top such earner in women's golf.

Tiger Woods made $77 million in endorsements and off-course income last year as the top male earner.

Those numbers at the top, however, aren't the figures that trouble most LPGA Tour pros. It's the fact that even though golf equipment companies have scaled back their investment in men, virtually all of the top 125 money winners on the PGA Tour still have significant deals to play certain clubs and balls or to at least wear certain hats, shirts or shoes.

Most of the LPGA's top 30 money winners do not have meaningful equipment deals but carry logo bags for free.

Of Golf Digest's list of top 50 money earners last year, 47 are men, and they combined to earn more than $230 million in endorsements and other income unrelated to competition.

As the only three women on the list, Sorenstam (No. 17), South Korea's Se Ri Pak (No. 26) and Australia's Karrie Webb (No. 47) combined to make $8.6 million outside of competition.

"It's a touchy subject," says Christina Kim, who won her first LPGA Tour event this year and made the ADT elite field but has no endorsement deals.

It's so touchy, Titleist Chief Executive Officer Wally Uihlein declined an interview request on the subject through a company spokesman.

"It's a complicated issue, but I don't think equipment manufacturers have really tried in creative ways to make it work for women," said Judy Rankin, a Hall of Famer and ABC-TV analyst. "I think they've lacked creativity in not being able to use some of these players."

Votaw acknowledges issues exist with golf equipment companies, but he is pleased with the tour's growth in other directions.

"It's a case of supply and demand," Votaw says. "Would I like to see more women sponsored by equipment companies? Yes. But you have to look at the condition of the golf equipment industry. It's at best stagnant and at worst in decline.

"But we've seen a pretty extensive up tick in non-endemic consumer companies wanting to associate with our players to a much larger degree than they have in the past."

In fact, Grace Park has deals with Rolex and Anheuser-Busch as well as Nike. Lorena Ochoa has deals with Audi, AeroMexico, Office Depot, Upper Deck and Nike. Cristie Kerr is backed by Mutual of Omaha, Canyon Ranch and For Eyes Optical.

While women at the very top of the game have enjoyed some new lucrative deals, the disparity between the elite and the near elite is growing.